HOT NUMBERS
Europe continued to reinvest, with Disney- land Paris’ new 20th anniversary shows and Europa Park’s fifth hotel, Bell Rock, and a Wodan Timbur roller coaster.
TRIPLE HIT FOR EUROPE
The overall picture for Europe is not as rosy as for North America and Asia but there are reasons for this. The 2012 season was unbelievably difficult for the European theme park industry due to the continuing economic recession, cold and wet summers in North- ern Europe and the London 2012 Olympic Games, which left London deserted for several weeks during the summer. As shown
TABLE 2: LEADING EUROPEAN THEME PARKS Rank Park and Location
2
1 Disneyland Park At Disneyland Paris, Marne-La-Vallee, France Walt Disney Studios Park At Disneyland Paris, Marne-La-Vallee, France
3 Europa Park, Rust, Germany
4 De Efteling, Kaatsheuvel, the Netherlands 5 Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark 6 Port Aventura, Salou, Spain 7 Liseberg, Gothenburg, Sweden
8 Gardaland, Castelnuovo Del Garda, Italy 9 Alton Towers, Staffordshire, UK 10
Legoland Windsor, Windsor, UK
11 Thorpe Park, Chertsey, UK 12 Phantasialand, Germany 13 Parc Asterix, Plailly, France
14 Futuroscope, Jaunay-Clan, France 15 Legoland Billund, Billund, Denmark 16 Puy Du Fou, Les Epesses, France 17 Gronalund, Stockholm, Sweden 18 Mirabilandia, Savio, Italy
19 Duinrell/Attraktiepark, Holland 20 Heide Park, Soltau, Germany TOTAL
in the Top 20 European Parks table (Table 2), some parks found it challenging to maintain attendance. Others, however, showed strong growth, which demonstrates that thoughtful reinvestment can overcome negative trends. Thanks to these strong performers, the overall attendance at the top 20 European parks remained stable, at 58 million visits. Attendance at the top five parks grew fairly consistently by two per cent but the biggest growth was at two French parks in the bottom half of the table. Parc Asterix (up by eight per cent) opened a new Egypt World featuring a highly anticipated 40m-high OzIris inverted coaster that dips underwater, and a smaller
% Change 2011/2012
1.9% 1.9% 2.2% 1.8% 1.8% 0.5% -3.4%
-10.0% -9.4% 5.3%
-10.0% 0.0% 8.0% -2.4% 3.1% 6.7% -3.8% -6.1% -0.1% -7.1% -0.3%
Attendance Attendance 2012
2011
11,200,000 10,990,000 4,800,000 4,710,000 4,600,000 4,500,000 4,200,000 4,125,000 4,033,000 3,963,000 3,540,000 3,522,000 2,800,000 2,900,000 2,700,000 3,000,000 2,400,000 2,650,000 2,000,000 1,900,000 1,800,000 2,000,000 1,750,000 1,750,000 1,723,000 1,595,000 1,700,000 1,741,000 1,650,000 1,600,000 1,600,000 1,500,000 1,408,000 1,464,000 1,390,000 1,481,000 1,360,000 1,362,000 1,300,000 1,400,000 57,954,000 58,153,000
Attendance figures are estimates based on company information, annual reports, published information and from reliable TEA/ AECOM industry and tourism sources. Per cent changes for 2012 for certain parks are based on adjusted/updated figures for 2011, thus not directly comparable to the published TEA/AECOM list for 2010/11 or previous reports. Source: TEA and AECOM.
60 Attractions Handbook 2013–2014
ride for children. Celebrating the 35th an- niversary of its original show Cinescenie, Puy du Fou (up by seven per cent) was honoured by TEA’s Thea Classic Award, which drew press attention and helped further establish the park in the domestic market. This was strengthened by the park’s new Christmas show Grand Noel boosting winter visitation. The attempt to extend the season by offer- ing Halloween and Christmas events is quite a common trend in the European theme park industry. Further, Efteling, which celebrated its 60th birthday in 2012, has been operat- ing year round since 2010 and this seems to have helped the numbers. More parks are seeking opportunities to offset low summer visitation by opening during colder periods when weather conditions are less of an issue as guests typically come prepared. With the uncertainty of the summer weather over the past few years, however, it might be time for European parks to explore more creative op- tions to make the visitor experience exciting and comfortable in poor summer weather. At the same time in Europe, catering to the family market, rather than only targeting teenagers, is more important than ever and more parks are recognising this trend. Por- tAventura has set its strategy on becoming the best family destination in Europe, Parc Asterix has balanced its new thrill coaster with a child ride, Puy du Fou allows the whole family to enjoy its shows together without worrying about age and height restrictions, and LEGOLAND is providing accommodation. All in all, LEGOLAND Parks operated by Merlin Entertainments Group did well in 2012, growing attendance by 33 per cent. In Europe, the operator continues to successful- ly evolve LEGOLAND parks into family resort destinations: LEGOLAND Windsor opened its first hotel and LEGOLAND Billund launched a new family area called North Pole, which features a Polar X-plorer roller coaster.
www.attractionshandbook.com
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